Friday, December 28, 2012

Organization for the New Year

Today I am linking up with Hope from 2nd Grade Shenanigans to share my organizational plans for the New Year. I seem to have the same problem as many of you. I pin lots of phenomenal ideas on Pinterest to help me get organized, but never actually implement any of them. I am planning to change that in the new year. Here are some of the things that I have planned.

I don't know about you, but I seem to pin recipes more than anything else. The pictures that pop up on Pinterest just look so darn good, that I end up pinning far more than making. I also seem to find myself scrolling though my phone while walking through the grocery store to find a recipe for a dish that I am inspired to make that night. My plan over this winter break is to create a recipe binder like this one from Clean Mama to get all those fabulous pins downloaded and kept in one place.

I also love this idea for organizing my cabinets at home and my shelves at school.

Such an easy thing to do, I find myself wondering why I didn't think of it!

I LOVE this list of house cleaning tasks to keep me on a regular schedule. I will be printing this out and hanging it on my refrigerator.

Here are some things that I actually accomplished in the last year in my classroom that have made a HUGE difference for me.

I spent an enormous amount of time organizing my classroom library before the end of the last school year. I bought the baskets from Really Good Stuff and they fit my books perfectly. I started by removing all of the books from the shelves and placing them into categories. This allowed me to see what my labels would be and helped me determine how many bins to purchase. I am extremely pleased with the end result.

I also began an organizational binder and a lesson plan binder to help keep me organized. I found these great FREEBIES from The Resource(ful) Room.

They have made a HUGE difference in the day to day operation of my classroom. I have a clear place to put everything from MAP data to IEP invites and information. There is also a calendar portion that I flip to at least a hundred times a day. Okay...so maybe it's not that many...but it sure feels like it! Once I downloaded the set, I promptly told everyone I work with about them. The great thing is that Amy has the sets in so many different colors and themes you are sure to find a set that matches your classroom.

She also has sets that she created for Daily 5.

I used them to organize all of my Daily 5 materials this summer. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of that here at home. I will need to add some next week when I stop by school to get a few things done.

I am excited to have a plan for some projects that will help me start the new year off on the right foot! I will be sure to blog again to let you know how they all turn out.

Thank you again for your wonderful resources! I am always amazed by all of the Freebies that you offer. I have found many useful ideas on your blog. Thanks for being an inspiration to a blogging newbie! I am excited to see what the new year will bring. I appreciate you becoming a follower!

I am a third grade teacher who has been teaching for 16 years! Most of those years were spent in third grade, but I also looped with three classes up to fourth grade. I LOVE creating creative units and lessons to reinforce and extend the learning in our classroom. I have a slight obsession with fonts and clipart which definitely helps me to create! I hope that you find something useful to your classroom here at The Lodge!